Arakan IDPs in Ayeyarwady Region forced to pay accommodation fee

By Admin 30 Dec 2024

DMG Newsroom
30 December 2024, Ngathainggyaung, Ayeyarwady Region

Junta administration officials are extorting money from internally displaced people (IDPs) from Arakan State taking refuge in Ngathainggyaung Township, Ayeyarwady Region, according to displaced civilians.

IDPs said that an administrator of Shae Saung Ward is demanding that Arakanese IDPs pay K50,000 per person if they want to live in Ngathainggyaung Town.

"A ward administrator is asking for K50,000 per person and K200,000 for a family of four. He said that he would not let the Arakanese IDPs live unless they paid him. The ward administrator is extorting money from Arakanese IDPs who are either renting houses or staying at relatives' houses," said an IDP from Gwa Township.

Some 300 IDPs from Arakan State taking refuge in Yekyi Township, Ayeyarwady Region, were forced to relocate to Kyonepyaw and Hinthada townships on December 25.

Arakanese IDPs in Kwa Tauk Ward, and Meikthalin, Thidar Konpyin, Yaynauk and Dayaykon villages in Yekyi Township were subject to the mandatory move to Kyonpyaw, Hinthada and Ngathainggyoung townships, which came at the order of the military regime.

Displaced people who moved to Ngathainggyoung are facing accommodation difficulties because the ward administrator is demanding money from them.

"We are facing difficulties in earning a living, so if junta officials ask for K50,000 per person, we will only be in debt. The junta administration officials should stop oppressing us and show some consideration to the displaced civilians," said an IDP woman from Thandwe taking shelter in the Ayeyarwady Region capital Pathein.

Ongoing clashes have displaced thousands of local people in Gwa and Thandwe townships to Ayeyarwady and Bago regions, which share a border with Arakan State.

Currently, Arakanese IDPs in Ayeyarwady Region are facing food shortages, lack of assistance, and insecurity due to the regime's repression and arrests.

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